THE EASE & JOY OF MORNINGS (December 2018)

Join Kozan for “Ease and Joy of Mornings,” December 16—a quiet morning designed to introduce you to the art of zazen. It is an ideal entryway for beginners and even intermediate or long-time meditators who want a refresher course on this “dharma gate of joy and ease” as described by Zen Master, Dogen-Zenji.

At the High Edge of Altruism

This excerpt is from Roshi Joan’s new book: Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet.

The word altruism was coined in 1830 by French philosopher Auguste Comte, who derived it from vivre pour autrui, or “live for others.” An antidote to the selfishness of living for ourselves, altruism became a new social doctrine based on humanism rather than religion. Altruism was an ethical code for nonbelievers, one detached from dogma.

Those who act from the purest form of altruism are not looking for social approval or recognition, and they are not looking to feel better about themselves. A woman sees a child she doesn’t know wandering into the path of a car. She doesn’t think, Saving this child would make me a good person—she just rushes into the road and grabs the child, putting her own life at risk. Afterwards, she probably doesn’t praise herself too much. She thinks, I did what I had to do. Anyone else would have done the same. She feels relieved because the child is alive and well. As this example illustrates, altruism is a step beyond ordinary generosity; it entails self-sacrifice or physical risk.

In 2007, Wesley Autrey (not far from autrui), a construction worker, jumped onto the Manhattan subway tracks to save Cameron Hollopeter, a film student who was having a seizure and had fallen from the platform onto the tracks. Autrey saw the oncoming train and leapt down to haul Hollopeter out of the way. But the train was coming too fast, so Autrey threw himself over Hollopeter in the foot-deep drainage trench between the tracks. As he held the seizing man down, the train passed over them both, grazing the top of Autrey’s knit cap. No thought to self, just an unmediated impulse to save a fellow human’s life.

Later, Autrey seemed bewildered by all the attention and praise he received. He told The New York Times, “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help. I did what I felt was right.”

I see Autrey’s story as an example of pure altruism. We all have altruistic impulses, but we don’t all act on them at all times. Other people on that subway platform no doubt saw Hollopeter seizing and recognized the need to help—but they also understood that they could get killed in the process. Altruism happens when our impulse to serve others overrides our fear and our instincts of self-preservation. Thankfully, Autrey was resourceful enough to save a life and to survive as well.

All over the planet, every day, people are acting from unmediated altruism to serve one another. Like the unidentified Chinese protester who stood resolutely in the pathway of the tanks heading toward Tiananmen Square. Like the doctors in Africa who so courageously treated Ebola patients. Like the Parisians who opened their homes to those escaping the 2015 terrorist attacks. Like the three thousand courageous Syrian volunteers who serve as first responders rescuing survivors after the bombs fall on civilian neighborhoods. Like Adel Termos, who tackled one of the suicide bombers heading toward a crowded mosque in Beirut the day before the Paris attacks in 2015. When Termos caused the bomb to detonate away from the crowd, he lost his own life—but he saved the lives of countless others. Like Ricky John Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, and Micah David-Cole Fletcher, who fearlessly intervened in a racial attack on two teenage girls riding the MAX Light Rail train in Portland in May 2017. Ricky and Taliesin lost their lives; Micah survived. As Taliesin was bleeding out, he offered these words: “Tell everyone on this train I love them.” In our fraught world, I feel that it is important to hear stories like these to keep our faith in the beauty and power of the human heart and to remember how natural altruism is.

Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax
Abbot, Upaya Zen Center

Read more from Roshi Joan’s new book, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet.